NBPD officers help catch WV predator

Friday

A child is safe and a predator is behind bars as a result of the work of two New Bern police officers.

A child is safe and a predator is behind bars as a result of the work of two New Bern police officers.

In July, while visiting family here in New Bern for the summer, an 11-year-old girl began receiving text messages from a man in West Virginia. The content of the messages was inappropriate so the girl showed them to her aunt.

The victim’s mother, in West Virginia at the time, made several attempts to report the obscene messages to West Virginia authorities since the phone number the messages were coming from came out of that state.

First she called the W.V. state police. They advised she contact her cell phone carrier to get the exact origin of the phone number, which turned out to be from Blue Field, W.V.

With that information in hand, the victim’s mother then called back to the state police and was again pointed in a different direction. This time they asked her to call the Blue Field Police Department.

She did as they asked and yet again, was redirected, this time to the Sheriff’s Department. By this time it was after 5 p.m. and she was greeted with a recording at the Sheriff’s Department.

Finally, she found the number for the dispatch line. She repeated her story to a new set of ears and was told a police officer would arrive at her home shortly. The officer never showed up.

In the meantime, her aunt made a call to the New Bern Police Department to find out exactly what she needed to do about the incoming text messages. Officer Lee was dispatched to the home (Officer Lee requested that the Sun Journal use neither his first name or initial).

The girl’s aunt tried for two hours to retrieve the messages from the cell phone as Officer Lee talked to the victim and another young girl in the home about the seriousness of the messages.

The phone was turned over to Detective Sal Zanghai with the forensics unit at the New Bern Police Department to allow him to not only extract the messages but also assume the identity of the child.

On July 22, Wade Eugene Decker, 22, of Martinsburg, W.V., was arrested during an undercover sting operation after an investigation was conducted by the NBPD and West Virginia authorities.

Decker was charged with several felony counts, including the solicitation of a minor using a computer, the display of obscene matter to a minor, the use of obscene matter to seduce a minor and the attempted use of a minor to produce obscene matter, according to The Journal, a West Virginia newspaper.

The use of social media and cell phones by children has escalated over recent years, causing them to be more prone to crimes committed by sexual predators.

Lee and Zanghai have common advice for parents: talk to your children.

“Parents need to be real and open-minded when they talk to their children,” Zanghai said.

Lee added, “Parents need to educate themselves. They need to have open conversations with their children but some parents are afraid.”

The victim’s mother is grateful for the follow-through and compassion shown by Lee and Zanghai, especially after experiencing the frustration of trying to report the incident to West Virginia authorities.

“If it had not been for Officer Lee and Detective Zanghai, I believe wholeheartedly that this story would not have ended as it did. The alternative outcome is life shattering,” said the victim’s mother. “New Bern is lucky to have dedicated officers such as these two, and I am sure the others who serve.”

Even after Decker’s arrest, Lee and Zanghai continued to offer support to the victim and her family, a gesture not shown by W.V. authorities, said the victim’s mother.

Officer Lee has been in law enforcement for 18 years and serves on the K-9 unit at NBPD.

Detective Zanghi has been with the New Bern Police Department for nearly 25 years. Zanghai is part of the Internet Crimes Against Children unit with NBPD, a unit very much needed since the increased use of wireless communication and social media by children over recent years.

Zanghai said most parents and children probably aren’t aware that if a child takes and sends exploitive pictures of them, they too are committing felonies.

Megan Beyer can be reached at 252-635-5671 or megan.beyer@newbernsj.com.

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